Tipping doors



J. AVRIL A ril 22, 1969' 'I'IPPING DOORS Sheet Fig.1.

United States Patent 3,439,453 TIPPING DOORS Jean Avril, Joigny, Yonne, France, assignor to Vallourec, Societe Anonyme, Paris, France, a French company Filed Dec. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 605,894 Claims priority, appIicatiZgGFrance, Jan. 11, 1966,

Int. Cl. Ed 15/40 US. Cl. 49-204 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates in general to tipping doors and has specific reference to a tipping door consisting of a rigid panel pivotally mounted substantially about its general longitudinal centre line on the cross member of a strap having the free ends of its side arms pivoted to the top of the uprights of the fixed door frame which are adapted, like the lower portion of the door panel, to constitute guide means therefor.

This tipping door is of the type comprising a fixed door frame with two uprights and a cross member interconnecting the top ends of these uprights, a rigid panel, two lateral members at the lower portion of said panel sliding in said uprights of the fixed door frame, two arms disposed on either side of said panel, each arm being pivoted at its upper end to a fixed point located in the vicinity of the upper portion of said frame and at its lower end to another point located in the vicinity of the median portion of the panel to permit the tipping thereof inside the room to be closed by this door, said door further comprising elongated resilient members acting on said arm for balancing the door, said resilient members being disposed substantially vertically when the door is closed and having each their lower end pivoted to a point of the frame uprights and their upper end adapted to bear against said arms intermediate the two pivot points of said arms.

This specific tipping door construction is advantageous notably in that it requires the minimum space behind the lintel, while eliminating any rail whether at the ceiling or on the side walls, and also in that it avoids any projecting part on the outside during the door operation.

This door, like all tipping doors, must preferably be compensated and to this end spring means, preferably in the form of pneumatic jacks, are used, the latters being characterised by many advantageous features over mechanical springs but delivering a constant thrust irrespective of the stroke whereas the torque necessary for pivoting the door-supporting strap increases as the door is open, due to the gradual increment in the lever arm at the end of which the constant weight of the door to be lifted is applied.

To avoid this drawback and according to a primary feature of this invention the tipping door is responsive to a pair of pneumatic jacks acting upon the arms of the strap from which the door is suspended, and these jacks have one end pivotally attached to the uprights of the door frame and their opposite end pivotally attached to he strap arms, at a certain distance from their pivot axis.

3,439,453 Patented Apr. 22, 1969 In the closed door position the jacks are slightly inclined with respect to the strap arms in order to commence the door opening movement immediately as the door is unlocked.

To improve the operation the upper end of said jacks, instead of being pivoted directly to the strap arms, carries a roller engaged by the relevant arm, said roller being carried by the end of a link pivoted to the corresponding upright of the door frame or to a member rigid therewith, above the pivot axis of the strap arms.

In order to afford a clearer understanding of this invention and of the manner in which the same may be carried out in practice, a typical form of embodiment of a tipping door constructed according to the teachings of this invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical section showing the door in its closed position;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 but showing the door in its open position, and

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the door.

The tipping door according to this invention comprises a door frame consisting of a pair of lateral uprights 1 interconnected at their top by a cross member 2; a pair of members 3 rigid with said door frame are provided with pivot pins 4 to which are pivoted the two arms 5 of the strap, the cross-member 6 of this strap constituting on the other hand the pivot axis of the tipping door panel 7 provided at its lower portion with rollers 8 guided by the uprights 1.

A jack 9 has one end pivoted to an adjustable support 10 secured to the upright 1 and its other end pivoted to the end of a link 11 having their other end pivoted at 12 to said member 3; the free end of said link 11 carries a roller 13 engaging the relevant arm 5 of said strap.

The door may locked in the clised position by means of a lock handle 16 as shown in FIGURE 1.

When the door is closed, the panel 7 extends vertically and has its lower portion retained by the rollers :8 engaging the rail-forming uprights 1 and its upper portion locked by the bolt 17 of lock handle 16 engaging a keeper notch provided to this end in the cross member 2 of the door frame.

When the handle 16 is rotated the top of the door is released and the action exerted by the pneumatic jack 9 upon the arms 5 of the strap causes the door panel 7 to rotate towards the position shown in dash lines in FIGURE 1; thus the lower portion of the door panel is within reach of the users hand, and it is only necessary to continue the guiding of the door panel along the upright rails 1 until the panel is in its horizontal position illustrated in FIGURE 2.

It is clear that this door constitutes an assembly adapted to be transported as such to its place of erection where the only operation required will consist in securing the door frame, that is, notably, the uprights 1.

The specific feature of the compensation system is the fact that during the door operation in one or the other direction the distance A between the pivot axis 4 of the strap arms 5 and the point of engagement of rollers 13 on said arms 5 is variable; this variation is due to the fact that said links 11 are pivoted on the one hand at 12 above the point 4 and on the other hand at the upper end of jacks 9, at the point of support of said rollers 13; the corresponding distance A increases from the closed position shown in FIGURE 1 to the open position illustrated in FIGURE 2; as the useful length of links 11 may be adjusted by altering the position of their pivot point 12, the ratio of the distance A in the high position to the dis tance A in the low position can be modified at will, when the door is open as shown in FIGURE 2, the pressure exerted by the jacks 9 can be varied by means of the adjustable support in order to hold the door panel in a perfectly horizontal position irrespective of its weight.

On the other hand it is clear that the specific form of embodiment shown and described herein is given by way of example for many modifications and variations may be brought thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Thus, notably, the points whereat the force of the spring means or jacks for compensating the weight of the door is applied to the uprights and strap arms may be so selected that in the closed position the door be retained in this position by the spring means or jacks which on the other hand facilitate the door opening movement when this movement has been started.

What I claim is:

1. A tipping door comprising, a fixed frame having two uprights and a cross-member interconnecting the upper ends of said uprights, a rigid door panel, two lateral members disposed at the top of said door panel and slidable in said frame uprights, two arms disposed on either side of said panel, means pivoting each arm at its upper end to a ifixed point located in the vicinity of the upper portion of said frame and at its lower end in the vicinity of a central portion of said panel to permit the tipping of said panel, inwardly of a space to be closed by said door, resilient members acting upon said arms for balancing the door, said resilient members extending substantially vertically when the door is closed and having their lower ends pivoted to a point of said door frame uprights, said resilient member having upper ends reacting against said arms intermediate the pivotal connections thereof, a pair of links each having means pivoting one end to a fixed point rigid with the door frame and located above the pivotal connection of a corresponding arm, and each link having a roller at the opposite end connected to a resilient member whereby each resilient member bears with its upper portion against the corresponding arm with said roller adapted to roll along said corresponding arm.

2. A tipping door as set forth in claim 1, wherein means are provided for adjusting the position of the pivot point of the lower end of said resilient members on said door frame.

3. A tipping door comprising a fixed frame having two uprights and a cross-member interconnecting the upper ends of said uprights, a rigid door panel, two lateral members disposed adjacent a top of said door panel and slidable in said frame uprights, two arms disposed on either side of said panel, means pivoting each arm at its upper end to a fixed point located in the vicinity of the upper portion of said frame and at its lower end in the vicinity of a central portion of said panel to permit the tipping of said panel, inwardly of a space to be closed by said door, resilient members acting upon said arms for balancing the door, said resilient members extending substantially vertically when the door is closed and having lower ends pivoted to a point of said door frame uprights, said resilient members having upper ends reacting against said arms intermediate the pivotal connections thereof, a pair of links each having means pivoting one end pivoted to a fixed point rigid with the door frame and located above the pivotal connection of a corresponding arm, and a movable member on each resilient member connected to a respective resilient member and disposed so that each resilient member bears against the corresponding arm with said movable member movable along said arm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,021,459 11/1935 Madsen 49206 2,369,141 2/1945 Ferris et al 49-206 2,724,857 11/1955 Robinson 49197 X 2,854,707 10/195'8 Hieatt 49-205 X FOREIGN PATENTS 733,460 10/ 1932 France. 1,172,987 6/ 1964 Germany.

393,133 10/ 1965 Switzerland.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

DENNIS L. TAYLOR, Assistant Examiner. 

